LSU finishes ninth in Director's Cup standings

• LSU news release
• Published: Jun 29, 2009 - UPDATED: 1:57 p.m.

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LSU athletics recorded its second consecutive top-10 finish in the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup with a No. 9 ranking among Division I schools.

The annual Learfield Sports Director’s Cup, which measures the overall strength of college athletic programs, released its final standings for the 2008-09 athletic year following the conclusion of the College World Series.

Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in up to 20 sports – 10 women’s and 10 men’s. The ninth-place finish comes on the heels of last year’s No. 8 national finish, a school best. The Tigers accumulated 1,029 points in this year’s Director’s Cup. LSU scored points in 18 of 20 sports, a first in school history.

All 20 LSU teams qualified for postseason play in 2008-09, another school first.

Leading the way for LSU in 2008-09 was its national title in baseball, which awarded the school 100 points.

LSU picked up 80 points for a fourth place in men’s indoor track and field; 75 points for a fifth-place finish in men’s outdoor track and field; 73.5 points in women’s gymnastics and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field for six places in those sports.

Stanford won its 15th straight Director’s Cup title with a total of 1,455 points, followed by North Carolina with 1,184.25 points and Florida with 1,172.75 points.

Southern Cal (1137.75) and Michigan (1131.80) rounded out the top five.

Other Southeastern Conference teams in the top 25 included Georgia at No. 18 with 866.5 points, Tennessee at No. 23 with 746.25 points and Arkansas at No. 25 with 730 points.